The headline pretty much says it all – if you mess with the market, the market will mess with you. Period. End of story.
For example, let’s say you’re marketing a bankruptcy law office. You know people don’t want to file for bankruptcy, so you craft a wonderful way to get people in the door.
You promise them free mortgage forebearance help. You tell them you’re doing it out of the goodness of your heart, and you spend a whole bunch of time selling that to them. No money, totally free, peace and love all around from this lawyer.
Gives you the warm and fuzzies, doesn’t it?
But the truth is that we all know forbearance is not real easy to get. There are specific guidelines, and getting a round peg into that round hole doesn’t happen all that often. So chances are pretty good that you’re going to fail on the forbearance front. It’s window dressing, but you don’t tell prospects about that.
Now let’s make it every more fun. You’re in a non-judicial foreclosure state, and you know that all foreclosure sales are held on the fourth Thursday of every month. The list you’re mailing to is to people facing imminent foreclosure, so you know they’ve got less than 30 days to get filed or lose their home.
You spend that time dickering around with a forbearance that you know isn’t going to work. As the clock ticks down.
Three days before the gavel falls, your client gets a call from your office letting them know the forbearance didn’t pan out (who’da thunk?) … but there’s this other thing called a Chapter 13. You’ve got only 3 days to decide – less, really, because we’ve got to get all the paperwork done – so hop to it.
Will you get the client? Probably.
Will you get the referrals from that client? Probably not.
Why? Come on, this is easy – you suckered your client into buying from you. You took someone’s trust and screwed them over.
But my client is in a bind and needed the Chapter 13.
But my client won’t care so long as they get to keep the house.
My client is just happy to have someone who is working for them.
No, your client … somewhere in the recesses of their mind … is pissed that you brought them in for a public service and ended up jamming a bankruptcy down their throat. Doesn’t matter what the end result is, it matters that you did a bait-and-switch.
You Can’t Build Your Practice If You Betray The Market’s Trust
Remember that every single day. Even if you didn’t really betray the trust, it’s the perception that you did so that will hurt you.
Your prospects are afraid, beaten down, and have been taken advantage of by everyone who could do so.
Why would you possibly want to add your name to that ever-expanding list?
Why not do something radical in their lives? Be honest and truthful, direct and caring?
Because they won’t come in the door? Untrue.
By hiding behind a lie you’re revealing your own lack of message, a big black hole where the story belongs. You need to sit back and consider what truthful stuff you can say in order to change their mind that bankruptcy is bad, and that they can continue burying their head in the sand.
Be honest.
Be upfront.
Be smart.
Win the market.
